Future Israeli Collectives to Be Limited to Industry

Aryeh Nehamkin, secretary of the Moshavim Movement, declared that future settlements will be based chiefly on industry with agriculture playing only a minor part. Speaking at the 12th Agricultural Convention at Beit Berl at Kfar Saba, he explained that Israel had come to the end of its ability to use its limited water resources. Nehamkin noted that kibbutz income is already half from industry and half from agriculture and he said the moshavim collectives should follow their example and base their economic development on industry. He said more settlements would be established throughout the Galilee and the southern Negev.

The Ichud Hakvutzot Vehakibutzim Movement will establish seven new settlements in the next five years, two in the Raffah approach in the northern Sinai, two along the Dead Sea, one in the Golan Heights, and two in the Negev, according to the movement’s secretary, Nahman Raz.